The screenplay for the James Mangold-directed racing film Ford v Ferrari (aka Le Mans ’66) is a great example of how ‘action’ words can be employed to bring a screen story vividly to life on the page…
The challenge of visual writing
Writing for the screen means writing visually. This can provide a challenge for writers, even those with experience writing creative fiction and non-fiction in other forms. In fact, learning to use words effectively in a screenplay can be quite sobering when you consider yourself good with language!
Indeed, part of developing as a screenwriter means expanding your vocabulary, so your characters do more than ‘look’ at each other and ‘walk’ across the room.
When it comes to writing the fact-based film, it is especially important to use language effectively to recreate the world of your story, bringing to life the historic backdrop or the real-life context which roots your narrative, adding colour, authenticity and depth to your script. However…
Whatever genre(s) you aspire to write, reading screenplays which have an emphasis on movement and action can help get you thinking about how you can employ language more effectively.
Sports-based scripts are a good way to do this as they (should) combine strong characterisation and emotional engagement with vivid sequences of the sport in question. This enhances the dramatic conflict and portrays the action in such a way as to appeal to people unfamiliar with the sport or to a non-sports audience (or reader). Ford v Ferrari is a strong example of how to do this well.
Ford v Ferrari: an introduction
Set in the world of motorsports, the story concerns attempts by the US Ford Motor Company to develop a sportscar to beat Italy’s Ferrari at the 1966 Le Mans race. Leading the efforts are laid-back Texan car designer and former racer Carroll Shelby and talented driver and engineer Ken Miles, a flinty, down-to-earth Yorkshireman.
While the relationship between Shelby and Miles forms the heart of the story, the action is centred on the racing. It is in these sequences where the use of language by the screenwriters (Jez Butterworth, John-Henry Butterworth and Jason Keller) comes to the fore.
How Ford v Ferrari uses ‘action’ language
There are lots of racing sequences in the Ford v Ferrari script, with a large part of the third act taken up with Le Mans, a 24-hour endurance race. However, before this, we have the cars being tested, build-up events, and scenes of Shelby and Miles screeching around Los Angeles. It’s entertaining stuff, even for non-racing fans.
On the screen, these scenes take you into the heart of the racing experience, dragging the audience around the track, showing us the physical toll, dangers and exhilaration. The scenes are similar in intensity to the Steve McQueen pet project Le Mans (1971), which, though a fictional story, adopts a documentary-like style.
For the 2019 film, the makers of Ford v Ferrari had the technical and other challenges of creating these sequences. However, as they often say, it all started on the page. This means, it all started with the choice of languages.
Examples of ‘action’ language in Ford v Ferrari
Right from the opening scene, we are thrown into the world of racing. The first pages drop us into the 1959 Le Mans race, part-way through. This introduces us to Shelby and shows us the challenges of the endurance race.
As with any good opening, it paints a visual picture of the story world and immediately hooks us into the narrative. In terms of language, on the first two pages alone, we have:
- Tired spectators ‘splayed’ across seats
- A ‘roar rising’ which alerts us to approaching cars
- Flames ‘leaping’ as one of the cars catches light
- ‘Flashes and deafening sounds’ as cars ‘rip past’
The evocative language continues as Shelby, racing one of the cars, doesn’t wipe his goggles, he ‘paws’ at them; he doesn’t turn the steering wheel, he ‘cranks’ it; cars don’t speed past, they ‘blur past’. At a pitstop, Shelby ‘fishtails out of the pit lane’ to continue the race.
This level of description continues throughout, both in the race and non-race scenes, with the writers using a wide vocabulary to not just tell us what’s going on but to make us feel the movement of the cars. Other examples of action words and phrases peppered throughout the racing sequences, include:
- Metallic clunking
- Screams down
- Careens
- Whizzes
- Hammers
- Floors it
- Squeals
- Shudders (along)
Taken out of context, these words look a little strange but when incorporated into fast-paced racing sequences, they effectively take us into this dynamic world, with its unique sounds, smells and experiences, which the filmmakers, actors and stunt drivers were later able to create on the screen.
Overall
Having a deep and wide vocabulary is an important aspect of writing for the screen to ensure your stories are not undermined by flat and repetitive description.
Reading action-dominated scripts is a good way to add vivid descriptive and ‘action’ words to your writing vocabulary, as is having a physical or online thesaurus to hand.
As with other aspects of writing, there’s also nothing like practice. Think about the effect you want to create. Does your character creep, stride, or stagger across the room? Do they glower, stare or shoot a furtive glance at another character? Each of these words conjures up a different visual image which will help the reader understand the character’s mindset and to ‘see’ the story in their mind.
This is equally important in an understated drama as it is in a high-octane script set in the exciting world of motor-racing. As such, Ford v Ferrari is a recommended read to read to show what’s possible – and required – when it comes to writing a movie you hope is one day realised on the big or small screen.
Script sources: Deadline / Script Slug
For more, check out our article, 101 Screenplay Words, part of our Writing the Fact-Based Film 101 series.